Wow, No Thank You.

I am new to reading essays. But everyone around me was reading essays, and completely in line with the essays in this book, I felt like I should try it. You can’t have the opinion before you gave it a try. And this one had a cute rabbit on the cover. It being my first…

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Rating: 2 out of 5.

I am new to reading essays. But everyone around me was reading essays, and completely in line with the essays in this book, I felt like I should try it. You can’t have the opinion before you gave it a try. And this one had a cute rabbit on the cover.

It being my first try, I still can’t say too much after reading Wow, No Thank You. Am I saying No Thank You specifically towards this book, or are essays just not my thing? It’s too early too tell.

I didn’t like it. Maybe it’s because I am not forty yet and am not married with kids. I thought the essays were at their best when describing maybe the minor things, where she is not just making fun of herself. I was enjoying the later essay more, so maybe I just needed to get used to them. Either way, I think this was not really for me.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Wow, No Thank You. – Samantha Irby

10 responses

  1. ejiromary Avatar
    ejiromary

    I do enjoy essays but this doesn’t sound like one i’d want to read. I’d recommend ‘All the Women in My Family Sing’ which is a collection of short essays if you’re looking to pick up another essay driven book.

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    1. urlphantomhive Avatar
      urlphantomhive

      I might give it a try. I am still very new to essays and so far I have read a couple about women approaching their forties, which is quite far from where I am currently at in my life – so I would like to try something else entirely. Either more relatable, or so unrelatable it isn’t even trying to…

      Liked by 1 person

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  2. BrokenTune Avatar
    BrokenTune

    I would have tried this for the cute bunny on the cover alone.
    Howver, essays can be hit or miss. Some writers are great essayists and some just aren’t. Some just read like someone published their blog posts, or worse, their tweets. Don’t get me wrong, I like blog posts, and some are downright amazing, but – in keeping with McLuhan’s “the medium is the message” – blog posts are not usually essays.
    Essays are different and separate form of writing.
    For much better essays, I would recommend to look at some other writers – I’m currently reading (as a side project to Halloween Bingo) Zadie Smith’s “Feel Free” and she’s quite good at essays. So were Ursula K. LeGuin and Christopher Hitchens.

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    1. urlphantomhive Avatar
      urlphantomhive

      Yes thank you for the recommendations! I am really new to the essay genre (everyone in book club was reading them so I wanted to give it a try). Read this and How to be a Woman and both are by female authors approaching their forties so maybe rather similar. I think my next essay-book should be something else entirely.

      I do agree that different things work for different platforms. And blog are, ultimately, not essays.

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      1. BrokenTune Avatar
        BrokenTune

        Well, I wouldn’t blame the age of the authors for them not writing anything that resonates with you – after all not all of us approaching our forties have the same interests either… ;D

        But kidding aside, I think it is kinda hard to find really good essays.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. urlphantomhive Avatar
        urlphantomhive

        Of course, of course. But whether it is mortgages or 400 pound handbags, neither is really in my sphere of interests 😉

        Liked by 1 person

      3. BrokenTune Avatar
        BrokenTune

        LoL. They’re not in mine either!

        Liked by 1 person

      4. BrokenTune Avatar
        BrokenTune

        I guess, it’s like with other things we read, it’s difficult to figure out which author actually has something to say. And in essays, could can’t really camouflage when the author has no point. No amount of “plot twists” or fancy wording can hide when someone has no idea what they are writing about or when it is just not interesting.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. urlphantomhive Avatar
        urlphantomhive

        Imagine essays, but with red herrings and cliffhangers 😂

        Liked by 1 person

      6. BrokenTune Avatar
        BrokenTune

        Hehe.

        Liked by 1 person

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The author

After a day of work, Marjolein likes to wind down with a book or two, or five! Unapologetic reader of at the very least three books at any given time, she apparently is unable to settle on a favorite genre.

She might pause her audiobook just long enough to discuss books online.

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